Curecanti Needle, Granite summit in Gunnison County, Colorado.

Curecanti Needle is a 700-foot granite spire on the south bank of Morrow Point Reservoir, immediately west of the mouth of Blue Creek and across the Gunnison River from Curecanti Creek. The reservoir, an impoundment of the Gunnison River created in 1965, lies in the upper Black Canyon between Gunnison and Montrose. The spire stands about 3.4 miles west of Blue Mesa Dam.

The Denver & Rio Grande reached Gunnison in August 1881 and laid its narrow-gauge line along the north bank of the Gunnison River, passing directly across the river from the Needle between Sapinero and Cimarron. The railroad adopted the spire as the emblem of its Royal Gorge route and used it as the main logo of the whole line in the first two decades of the 20th century. Service through the Black Canyon ended in the 1950s, and three years later Morrow Point Reservoir covered the tracks near the Needle.

The name Curecanti is generally accepted to derive from "Curicata", the name of a chief of the Ute tribe. The spire stood as a landmark for generations of natives and pioneers before the railroad era, and it now lies within Curecanti National Recreation Area, named for the same Ute chief.

There is no road or trail to the Needle itself. The Curecanti Creek Trail, a 4-mile round trip with 900 feet of elevation change, starts at Pioneer Point on Colorado Highway 92 and ends opposite the spire. Boaters must carry craft down the 232 steps of Pine Creek Trail and obtain a free backcountry permit at its trailhead.

The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad made the Needle the main logo for its entire line in the first two decades of the 20th century, printing it on timetables and promotional material for the Royal Gorge route it called "The Scenic Line of the World."